


Forged

by Aisu



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dark, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-08-16
Updated: 2011-08-16
Packaged: 2017-10-22 16:18:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/240002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aisu/pseuds/Aisu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sebastian Shaw forged Erik into a weapon, a tool, a force of nature - and in the end, that weapon has found its way back into its maker's hands. An alternate universe in which Erik made a very different choice about Shaw's offer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Choice

**Author's Note:**

> I promise that after this chapter I write my own dialogue.

Erik is losing.

He’s fought for so long, come so far, and now he finds himself pinned and helpless against the man he’s sought revenge against all his life. Shaw is even smiling, as if it’s a joke, a game. (He always smiles. Always.)

“I don’t want to hurt you, Erik,” Shaw murmurs softly, even comfortingly. “I never did.” He strokes Erik’s cheek with one hand, a strangely gentle caress.

Erik says nothing, can say nothing. He’s paralyzed with fear, memories of too long ago coming back to him. Shaw talks on, but he can barely hear it over the memories of the past. (But it’s always been his rage from that that keeps him going, that fuels his strength. Shaw taught him, honed him, made him into a weapon. Shaw made him what he is. Without him, he would be another victim of the camps, nothing more.)

(He would be weak. Worthless. Human.)

“We are the future of the human race,” Shaw is saying, and there’s an intensity in his eyes Erik has never seen before. A meaning. This is more than a game, for once. “You and me, son. This world could be ours.”

And with a bit of shock, Erik realizes, suddenly, that Shaw means it. Erik is more than an experiment to him. It’s strange - he had always thought that Shaw had turned him into what he became incidentally, a side effect of his training. But Shaw  _wants him_ , wants him as an ally.

(More, maybe. Erik feels that touch on his cheek still, like Charles but not, and he wonders.)

“Everything you did made me stronger,” he chokes out, and he can feel Charles’ shock for a moment in the back of his mind. He ignores it. “Made me the weapon I am today. It’s the truth. I’ve known it all along.” He can feel tears in his eyes, and he no longer knows the source. Pain, maybe. Fear. Trauma. (Gratitude.)

Shaw smiles, wide, bright. In Erik’s head, Charles is screaming, pleading,  _don’t do this Erik what are you doing stop stop stop_ , and Erik knows that Charles can already feel his decision.

 _I’m sorry, Charles_ , he thinks, and he means it. He does not regret the choice to abandon his quest for vengeance, does not regret giving up on his mother. She was human and weak, and she would have left him weak like her. His quest was always about his own pain, and now at last he has realized how much he owes Shaw.

His only regret will be Charles. That’s all that still matters, in the end.

“You are my creator,” he says, swallows hard. Some part of him still fights the choice, still wants to fight. He could, he knows. It’s not too late.

But in the most important ways it already is.

“Thank you.”

And Charles screams with despair and pain and betrayal, but Shaw laughs with delight, and only one of those matters to Erik any more.


	2. Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A week after his choice, Erik examines the consequences of it.

It’s 3 AM, but Erik can’t sleep. He lays awake in the darkness of the room, hearing Shaw snore beside him, feeling the boat rocking gently beneath him. It’s been a week since that day on the beach, and still he sleeps only fitfully, his dreams plagued by nightmares in the few hours he manages to rest.

And every time he closes his eyes he remembers.

—

Shaw pulled the wreckage away from Erik, clearing the metal bar from his path. “You made quite the mess,” he said, sounding more amused than anything else. “I’m impressed. You really have come so far.”

Erik stepped forward, keeping his gaze on Shaw. It seemed to help drown out the sound of Charles shouting and pleading – _stop this Erik remember who he is he’s a murderer Erik stop_  – and that was reason enough. (Charles would understand, anyways. Erik would go to him, explain, convince him of the need to fight together against humanity. They would stay side by side. There was no reason that their partnership needed to end.) “All because of you,” he answered aloud.

And Shaw laughed with joy at that, shaking his head a bit. “I have to say, Erik, I really am so happy you came around to my side. The more people ruling the new world with me, the better.” Erik saw, then, as Shaw started to ripple and blur, a tiny bit of a glow surrounding his body. “Well, then, shall we get started?”

“Stop!” The cry left Erik’s lips, almost born of panic more than anything else.

There’s a moment’s pause, and then the rippling distortion stopped, leaving Shaw as he was. He tilted his head a little, his smile faded, his eyebrows narrowed inwards. “Why, Erik? I thought you agreed with me. Was I wrong?”

Erik shook his head rapidly, trying to frame his objections in words. “Shaw… most of our kind don’t have powers like yours. The blast would damage humankind, yes, but it would also kill”  _(Charles)_  “too many of our kin. So many are gathered here, after all. We don’t need a bomb, Shaw.” He hesitated for a moment, and then felt a faint smile on his own lips. “What we need – and what we can get – is an army.”

For a few seconds Shaw just stared at him, expression unreadable, eyes cold and distant. Then he smiled wide. One hand went to rest on Erik’s shoulder. “I knew you’d make a wonderful partner,” he said with a grin. “An army it is, then.”

Erik smiled back at that praise, and if Charles’ screams and pleas held no gratitude, only despair, he could ignore that. Charles would understand.

—

Next to him in the bed, Shaw stirs, murmurs something in his sleep. Erik feels himself tense for a moment, then forces his body to relax. He’s safe, he has to remember. He and Shaw are allies now, partners, more. There’s no need to be afraid. (Even if he still remembers when they were not allies.)

The fear assuaged, he returns half-willingly to his memories, staring up at the ceiling in the darkness.

—

It took time to gather up the rest of the Hellfire Club. Charles refused to allow an attack on the submarine with Erik still there, which helped, and soon enough Azazel was heading in and out to deliver the others. Erik spent the time silent, trying to ignore Charles’ voice in his head as best he could. It became easier and easier with time.

At last they were all gathered together, hands joining, and that’s when Erik sensed the metal in the air above the beach.

“Wait,” he gasped, pulling away from Shaw and Azazel. “They’ve launched an attack, I think. Charles and the others won’t be able to get out in time. We have to go get them, get them out of here too, I can hold the missiles long enough—”

But Shaw just laughed and grabbed his hand, forcefully, violently, and then with a wrenching sensation in his stomach Erik found himself far down the beach, far from the missiles, the submarine, Charles.

It wasn’t far enough.

 _Erik,_  the voice rang in his mind, Charles speaking with a fear Erik had never heard before.  _Erik, come back, there are missiles, come back for us, save me, God, Erik, please, they’re going to kill us Erik come back come back please Erik PLEASE OH GOD HELP--_

There was a loud explosion, not too far away, and Charles’ voice went suddenly silent.

Erik fell to his knees then on the white sand, body shaking as he realized what had happened (what he  _let_  happen he could’ve stopped it he could’ve stopped it he could’ve saved Charles), not even able to scream or cry. It’s too much. It’s too much.

Shaw moved in behind him to rub his back comfortingly with one hand. “Just a small setback,” he murmured. “There are others to recruit, trust me. And you and I can manage fine without them, I’m sure. Don’t worry.”

Erik wanted to explain, wanted to tell Shaw that Charles was so much more than just a potential ally, that Charles was a friend, a partner, the only person Erik ever came to trust, but in the end he just nodded numbly.

After all, he was a weapon now once again, once again focused through rage and through pain. Charles’ happiness would have only held him back.

—

But for the third night in a row, Erik finds himself crying, and he is grateful when Shaw does not wake up.

It was needed, he knows that. It was for the better. Charles would never have understood. But that does not ease his guilt.


	3. Sidestory: Charles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charles spends his final moments regretting and hoping. This is a side chapter, not integral to the work but perhaps providing some extra insight.

Charles’ heart is breaking.

He’s been listening in as Erik, Erik who he trusted, cared for, helped,  _loved_ , turns against everything he had claimed to fight for. He’s known all along that Erik distrusted humanity, of course. He’s read it constantly in the background of the man’s mind, an undercurrent of dislike that bordered on hatred, but he’s tried to (ignore it ignore it as he does Raven’s building resentment Erik’s constant anger humanity’s endless small betrayals) hope that it wasn’t as bad as it sometimes seemed.

Instead, he’s discovered it’s worse.

“Please,” he pleads aloud and mentally at the same time, leaning against the wall of the downed plane. The others have returned one by one from their own fights and they are listening, watching, as Charles begs. “You’re better than this. You know you’re better than this, Erik. Remember what he’s done to you. Don’t… don’t let him  _use_  you like this. Please.”

Erik says nothing at all, but Charles can sense his feelings, distantly. Regret is there, yes, sadness – but overriding them both is a furious, cold anger and something horrible and twisted that Charles thinks Erik sees as  _gratitude._  It’s almost painful to touch Erik’s mind. But still, he tries. He tries. He can do nothing else.

“Charles, Azazel’s starting to collect the Hellfire Club back inside,” Raven says, worry showing in her face. “Shaw could trigger the explosion at any moment. We have to attack now. It’s almost too late.”

But Charles shakes his head, looking away. He knows what he should do as a leader, as the savior of mankind – but any attack now risks hurting Erik. He cannot order the children in. Not now. Not with Erik still there, still projecting that cold fury that Charles cannot even comprehend. “I need to get him back.”

Raven frowns, opens her mouth as if to speak, but in the end she says nothing at all. Even with so much of his focus on Erik, Charles can catch her fear, but he has no time for it.

He has to get Erik back.

And then, just for a moment, his contact with Erik’s mind flickers. When it comes back, Erik feels more distant, harder to contact, and looking through his eyes briefly Charles can see that the teleporter – Azazel – has moved them down the beach. Charles’ heart sinks. Even if this means Shaw has given up on the reactor, it still puts Erik further from him.

And then he catches the echo of Erik’s fear –  _the skies, something in the skies_  – and he looks up.

The sight is almost beautiful, really. The light gleams off the missiles in a million different ways, turning them into points of light that seem like stars in the daytime sky. They leave long trails of smoke behind them, striping the blue sky with white and gray. For a moment he can only stand, transfixed, watching.

And then the panic hits and he sends out, desperately,  _Erik, come back, there are missiles, come back for us_

silence in his head, nothing but distant fear, and the children are all seeing it now, turning towards the sky and then towards him

_save me, God, Erik, please, they’re going to kill us_

Raven runs to him and he holds her, tight, her panic washing over him, everyone’s panic amplifying, he can barely even think for fear now but still he tries

_Erik come back_

there is nothing left to do but try and hope, hope that somehow he can still get through, because he cannot save the children alone, cannot save himself

_come back please Erik_

Raven looks to him for comfort, for anything, and he can give none, all his strength crumbling and the missiles are so beautiful and so bright now and he has never been more scared

_PLEASE OH GOD HELP_

And then it is too late, and as the fire sweeps across the beach, beautiful and deadly and cleansing, Charles hopes that at least maybe it will not hurt too much.

And then there is nothing more at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This, um, wasn't really meant to be a chapter, but someone requested it from me as a drabble and it turned out decent? So consider it a bonus chapter.


End file.
